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Notes Display Latin text | translated by Theodore C. Williams Book VI Chapter 25: The Elysian fields | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute due Paid to the sovereign power of Proserpine, At last within a land delectable Their journey lay, through pleasurable bowers Of groves where all is joy, -- a blest abode! An ampler sky its roseate light bestows On that bright land, which sees the cloudless beam Of suns and planets to our earth unknown. On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb, Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long 'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand; With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song, Some thread the dance divine: among them moves The bard [Note 1] of Thrace, in flowing vesture clad, Discoursing seven-noted melody, Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand, Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre. Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race, Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times, Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, Illustrious builders of the Trojan town. Their arms and shadowy chariots he views, And lances fixed in earth, while through the fields Their steeds without a bridle graze at will. For if in life their darling passion ran To chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds, The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel. Lo! on the left and right at feast reclined Are other blessed souls, whose chorus sings Victorious paeans on the fragrant air Of laurel groves; and hence to earth outpours Eridanus, through forests rolling free. Here dwell the brave who for their native land Fell wounded on the field; here holy priests Who kept them undefiled their mortal day; And poets, of whom the true-inspired song Deserved Apollo's name; and all who found New arts, to make man's life more blest or fair; Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath Deserved and grateful memory to their kind. And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears. Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailed Musaeus, midmost of a numerous throng, Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher: O spirits blest! O venerable bard! Declare what dwelling or what region holds Anchises, for whose sake we twain essayed Yon passage over the wide streams of hell. And briefly thus the hero made reply: No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy groves We make our home, or meadows fresh and fair, With streams whose flowery banks our couches be. But you, if thitherward your wishes turn, Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show. So saying, he strode forth and led them on, Till from that vantage they had prospect fair Of a wide, shining land; thence wending down, They left the height they trod; Note 1: bard = Orpheus Event: Aeneas visits the Underworld |
637-678 His demum exactis, perfecto munere diuae, deuenere locos laetos et amoena uirecta fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas. largior hic campos aether et lumine uestit purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt. pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris, contendunt ludo et fulua luctantur harena; pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt. nec non Threicius longa cum ueste sacerdos obloquitur numeris septem discrimina uocum, iamque eadem digitis, iam pectine pulsat eburno. hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles, magnanimi heroes nati melioribus annis, Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor. arma procul currusque uirum miratur inanis; stant terra defixae hastae passimque soluti per campum pascuntur equi. quae gratia currum armorumque fuit uiuis, quae cura nitentis pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. conspicit, ecce, alios dextra laeuaque per herbam uescentis laetumque choro paeana canentis inter odoratum lauris nemus, unde superne plurimus Eridani per siluam uoluitur amnis. hic manus ob patriam pugnando uulnera passi, quique sacerdotes casti, dum uita manebat, quique pii uates et Phoebo digna locuti, inuentas aut qui uitam excoluere per artis quique sui memores aliquos fecere merendo: omnibus his niuea cinguntur tempora uitta. quos circumfusos sic est adfata Sibylla, Musaeum ante omnis (medium nam plurima turba hunc habet atque umeris exstantem suspicit altis): 'dicite, felices animae tuque optime uates, quae regio Anchisen, quis habet locus? illius ergo uenimus et magnos Erebi tranauimus amnis.' atque huic responsum paucis ita reddidit heros: 'nulli certa domus; lucis habitamus opacis, riparumque toros et prata recentia riuis incolimus. sed uos, si fert ita corde uoluntas, hoc superate iugum, et facili iam tramite sistam.' dixit, et ante tulit gressum camposque nitentis desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt. |